Zurich and CSC in $2.9bn deal

Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) has signed a $2.9bn (£1.76bn), 10-and-a-half year master service agreement with Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) for IT services in Europe and North America. The deal is expected to pave the way for country specific agreements later. Under the contract, CSC will centralise Zurich’s data centre and virtualise its servers and up to 1,000 Zurich employees will potentially transfer to CSC during the first half of 2010. The relationship between Zurich and CSC began in July 2004 when the companies signed a seven-year, $1.3bn contract.